


The rain of fire and the new pup

by Tikor



Series: Lunar oral history of the Usurpation to the present [5]
Category: Exalted
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen, storyteller - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 14:26:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6858688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wolf and the circus fight, then fire rains from the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The rain of fire and the new pup

The marked wolf had bared her fangs and raised her claws against the circus from beyond the edge of the world. The fire was banked and the wolf who was many things ran free across Creation and the stars stayed away in the heavens. The sister wolf and all the rest of the pack were not there to help the marked wolf. Every day was a flurry of swords and blood and staves and fangs and cups and fur and rings and claws. The marked wolf began to forget where she had come from or where she was going. She forgot the golden woman and the stars and the fire and the wolf who was many things. She forgot how much she loved her pack, how much she had loved the true wolf and how to hunt anything that wasn't trying to hunt her in return. She was losing herself in the fury, mad from circus' blood in her jaws.

The marked wolf, living as she was, did not notice that the farther the circus marched the more they turned on one another, for they could not even agree on where they were. Before they reached the Blessed Isle they had killed their own leader, the one with the terrible gaze who started the Crusade. All the mad things of the circus were running around with no purpose other than their own wills. If they had been united in their march, it might be that the circus would have marched to the center of the world and unmade everything we know. We would have no shape. That we would be mad things in the circus beyond the world, not the wolves and cubs we are.

It was then that the earth shook with a violence of a waking dragon and shortly after fire rained down from the skies. Lightning came forth from no clouds. Waves roiled across the land far from the sea. The dead grass shot up and grew thorns. These things struck down the mad things of the circus. Many ran back beyond the edge of the world but those who did not were unmade by the elements.

The wolf was wet from the waves and shocked by the lightning and stung by the thorns. She was thrown about by the shaking of the earth and singed by the fire falling from the sky. But she often thought of the best way through bad times, and found a place to hide while the world lost its mind.

The fire that was once banked rose back up and shone brightly over all Creation again, though both it and Creation were smaller than before. The marked wolf could see that even from her hiding place.

With no circus to fight the wolf regained her mind. She licked her wounds and covered her head. When finally the earth quit shaking so violently she slept. She was awoken by a small tongue on her face. She remembered the last time she had done the same and was sad that she had lost the true wolf. The marked wolf opened her eyes and saw a wolf pup before her. The marked wolf said to the pup "Who are you?" The pup said back to the marked wolf "I am the true wolf. Are you the pack?" The marked wolf laughed at the pup. "Yes I am the pack but you are not the true wolf. The true wolf is large and strong and wise and gone." The pup was adamant "I am him reborn. Do you not see my silver coat? I need you to mark me so that all will know I am of the pack."

The marked wolf stared at the wolf pup in amazement. How did he know these things about the pack and about the true wolf? She had not told him that the true wolf had a silver coat, or that the pack marked members to recognize each other. Yet he knew. She decided she believed him. "I will mark you and you will be my pack."

The true wolf pup said to the marked wolf "I have forgotten how to hunt. Will you teach me?"

The marked wolf said "I will teach you how to hunt so that you may share your kills with the pack."

The true wolf pup said to the marked wolf "I have forgotten what to look for while drinking from the stream. Will you teach me?"

The marked wolf said "I will teach you the dangers of the world so that you may watch the hindquarters of the pack while they drink from the stream."

The true wolf pup said to the marked wolf "I have forgotten how to love. Will you teach me?"

The marked wolf said "You have already reminded me how to love, so I do not need to teach you that. But I will love you anyway so that you are warmed through the long night."

And so the marked wolf taught the true wolf pup many things. The world was lessened by the circus yet it survived, and so it was with the silver pack. If you take any lesson from this story, young pups, take this: the pack will always return no matter how cold the night. The marked wolves like me will teach you, or you will be a marked wolf telling this story yourself, and you will always have one another.


End file.
